The Mandarin(and other stories)

The Mandarin(and other stories) PDF Author: Jose Maria Eca de Queiroz
Publisher: SCB Distributors
ISBN: 1907650342
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 188

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Book Description
Eça de Queiroz (1845-1900) is considered to be Portugal�s greatest novelist and one of its finest prose writers. In The Mandarin he turns his satirical eye on the sin of avarice and asks the following question: ‘In the depths of China there lives a mandarin who is richer than any king spoken of in fable or in history. You know nothing about him, not his name, his face or the silks that he wears. In order for you to inherit his limitless wealth, all you have to do is to ring the bell placed on a book by your side. In that remote corner of Mongolia, he will utter a single sigh. He will then be a corpse, and at your feet you will see gold beyond the dreams of avarice. Mortal reader, will you ring the bell?� When Teodoro, our timid, lowly narrator, says ‘Yes�, he finds that fabulous wealth brings with it unexpected problems. The three very different stories that complete the collection � ‘The Idiosyncrasies of a Young Blonde Woman�, ‘The Hanged Man� and ‘José Matías� � are all tales of obsessive love, each told with Eça�s irrepressible wit and originality. �A brilliant mischievous essay in fantasy chinoiserie, irreverently subverting the trope, created half a century earlier by Balzac in La Peau de chagrin, of the Oriental curse masquerading as a blessing. In the same Dedalus collection of Eca's short fiction lies a late gem,'Jose Matias', a love story told at a funeral by a Hegelian philosopher, in which the issue of the narrator's own relationship with reality adds a comically ambiguous layer to the tale." Jonathan Keates in The Times Literary Supplement

The Mandarin(and other stories)

The Mandarin(and other stories) PDF Author: Jose Maria Eca de Queiroz
Publisher: SCB Distributors
ISBN: 1907650342
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 188

Get Book Here

Book Description
Eça de Queiroz (1845-1900) is considered to be Portugal�s greatest novelist and one of its finest prose writers. In The Mandarin he turns his satirical eye on the sin of avarice and asks the following question: ‘In the depths of China there lives a mandarin who is richer than any king spoken of in fable or in history. You know nothing about him, not his name, his face or the silks that he wears. In order for you to inherit his limitless wealth, all you have to do is to ring the bell placed on a book by your side. In that remote corner of Mongolia, he will utter a single sigh. He will then be a corpse, and at your feet you will see gold beyond the dreams of avarice. Mortal reader, will you ring the bell?� When Teodoro, our timid, lowly narrator, says ‘Yes�, he finds that fabulous wealth brings with it unexpected problems. The three very different stories that complete the collection � ‘The Idiosyncrasies of a Young Blonde Woman�, ‘The Hanged Man� and ‘José Matías� � are all tales of obsessive love, each told with Eça�s irrepressible wit and originality. �A brilliant mischievous essay in fantasy chinoiserie, irreverently subverting the trope, created half a century earlier by Balzac in La Peau de chagrin, of the Oriental curse masquerading as a blessing. In the same Dedalus collection of Eca's short fiction lies a late gem,'Jose Matias', a love story told at a funeral by a Hegelian philosopher, in which the issue of the narrator's own relationship with reality adds a comically ambiguous layer to the tale." Jonathan Keates in The Times Literary Supplement

The Translators

The Translators PDF Author: Robert Fedorchek
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 1450249434
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 602

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Book Description
"Pilar Orsini Oquendo has just lost the love of her life. Her fiancé, Gonzalo, has been wrenched from her grasp by his untimely passing. Left alone to grieve, she finds herself at their favorite place, on a secluded beach in Spain. It is here where Gonzalo's childhood friend finds Pilar and, in a fit of lust, rapes her. Distraught and betrayed, Pilar soon finds the rape has produced a pregnancy. Despite the difficulty, Pilar decides to keep the baby. She struggles to wade through her emotional turmoil and continue her ambitious career as a translator of American literature. While speaking at Columbia University, Pilar meets Gus Brubaker. Gus is a Spanish literature translator, and he is immediately taken in by Pilar's intellect and stunning beauty. Pilar is conflicted and still dealing with the aftermath of her rape as her attacker continues his harassment. She is also pregnant. How will she explain this to Gus, who, she believes, will surely leave her when she reveals her pregnancy? The Translators tells a story of troubled romance set in the world of linguistics and literature. As Pilar and Gus travel the world together, they also must travel beyond pains of the past. In the conquering of violence, there is a possibility of healing and perhaps, a possibility of endless love."

Mousetales

Mousetales PDF Author: Robert Fedorchek
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 1532007892
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 231

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Book Description
The Mousetales are a group of whimsical, playful episodes that tell of children who are aided in nighttime distress by dedicated mouses of the Children?s Mouse Brigade. Henry and Ginger and their fellow Brigade members are involved in adventure after adventure as they ensure that children not suffer sleepless nights or fear of the dark. The Brigade accomplishes its missions through inventive approaches, prompted by unique mousevision and mousememory that calm the children, thereby making them feel safe. They are ably assisted in their efforts by a mousenet piggybacked to the humans? net; by their comprehension of English and, for some members, of French (although they cannot speak either language, only their native mousespeak); and, for travel, by the US Postal Service, on whose trucks the mouses hitch rides. Mousetale 1 relates the history of the Brigade and introduces Henry, the principal male mouse, and his training and first mission. Mousetale 2 recounts Henry?s introduction to Ginger, the principal female mouse, a connection that unfortunately gets off on the wrong paw for them but ends well for several children. Mousetale 3 tells of Henry and Ginger?s engagement and marriage and the children saved owing to Ginger?s intervention. Mousetale 4 introduces us to a little girl who is in distress on account of her father (and 4 is significant because we make the acquaintance of four identical baby mouses, all girls). Mousetale 5 and Mousetale 6 take us to the next generation as Henry and Ginger?s daughters also become members in good standing of the Children?s Mouse Brigade.

The Oldest Son

The Oldest Son PDF Author: The Oldest Son
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 1491723041
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 425

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Book Description
March 3, 1945, turns into a fateful night of horror for a young American Marine caught in the onslaught of Japanese fire on Iwo Jima. But worse than the machine-gun wounds that he sustains is a reality that he will bury, a mental and psychological scar so terrible that he won't allow it to surface with doctors at Letterman Army Medical Center in San Francisco. It is only with a nurse who has an actual scar of her own from an abusive stepfather that he finds some respite. Given a medical discharge after V-E Day, the wounded Marine returns to his home in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, which lies on the fringes of the dying coke and coal country. There he begins the agonizing journey of recognition to confront a naked, shattering truth. How he deals with his strong-willed father, friends, one antagonist, and the nurse who makes her way to Mount Pleasant, will determine the outcome of his nightmare on Iwo Jima. The Oldest Son is a story of the triumph of hope that springs from the love between a woman and a man.

God’S Child

God’S Child PDF Author: Robert Fedorchek
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 1532040741
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 253

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Book Description
Gods Child is the story of Nancy Biggs and Tim McNally, both of whom attended Catholic grade schools. When they seek ways to spread the teachings of Jesus Christ, the two soon learn that service to the church is circumscribed by a male-dominated hierarchy that dictates roles for men and a role for women. Tims perspectiveinfluenced by his mentor, a priest of the old guardaligns with the churchs prescribed roles. Nancy, on the other hand, must submit to the power of the men in Rome or fight against the churchs institutionalized sexism. In her struggle for equal treatment, Nancy gains the support of four priests. Meanwhile, the pope makes a pilgrimage to Fatima to commemorate the 105th anniversary of the Blessed Virgins appearance to three Portuguese children. In his remarks, he announces a change in the life of the Catholic Church that shakes the institution to its foundations and liberates Nancy to follow her true calling, and Tim to question his professed vocation. Gods Child explores the personal lives of two people of faith, and the epochal saga of a historic change in the life of the Church.

Machado de Assis

Machado de Assis PDF Author: João Cezar de Castro Rocha
Publisher: MSU Press
ISBN: 1628952407
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 399

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Book Description
This book offers an alternative explanation for one of the core dilemmas of Brazilian literary criticism: the “midlife crisis” Machado de Assis underwent from 1878 to 1880, the result of which was the writing of The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas, as well as the remarkable production of his mature years—with an emphasis on his masterpiece, Dom Casmurro. At the center of this alternative explanation, Castro Rocha situates the fallout from the success enjoyed by Eça de Queirós with the publication of Cousin Basílio and Machado’s two long texts condemning the author and his work. Literary and aesthetic rivalries come to the fore, allowing for a new theoretical framework based on a literary appropriation of “thick description,” the method proposed by anthropologist Clifford Geertz. From this method, Castro Rocha derives his key hypothesis: an unforeseen consequence of Machado’s reaction to Eça’s novel was a return to the classical notion of aemulatio, which led Machado to develop a “poetics of emulation.”

How Peripheral is the Periphery? Translating Portugal Back and Forth

How Peripheral is the Periphery? Translating Portugal Back and Forth PDF Author: João Ferreira Duarte
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1443883042
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 345

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Book Description
This volume is a result of the need to reflect upon Portugal’s position from the viewpoint of the literary assets imported and exported through translation. It brings together a number of scholars working in the field of Translation Studies directly concerned with the Portuguese cultural system in order to analyse this question from various theoretical perspectives and from case studies of translation flows and movements in Portuguese culture. By Translating Portugal Back and Forth, the articles discuss issues such as: how can one draw the borderline between a peripheral and a semi-peripheral system? Is this borderline useful or necessary? How peripheral is the Portuguese cultural system as far as translation transfers are concerned? How stable or pacific has this positioning been? Does the economic and historical perception of Portugal as peripheral entail that, from the viewpoint of translation, it would behave similarly? By addressing some of these questions, and as shown by the (second) subtitle – Essays in Honour of João Ferreira Duarte –, the volume pays homage to one of the most prominent Translation Studies scholars in Portugal, who has extensively reflected on the binary discourse on translation, its metaphors and images.

The Beach

The Beach PDF Author: Robert Fedorchek
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 1491793937
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 452

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Book Description
The Beach is Euclid Beach Park, an actual amusement park in Cleveland, Ohio, on the southern shore of Lake Erie with its exciting atmosphere, thrilling rides, and tantalizing smells of fresh popcorn, taffy, and peanuts. But it is the Beachs roller skating rink with its magnificent Gavioli band organ that forms the backdrop of the coming-of-age of two teenagers, Peter Skrak and Penny Hathaway. They are befriended by a worldly coupleHamilton Clifford, a World War II veteran trying to establish himself as an artist, and Ellen Mikkelson, a college professor of French, a woman in the midst of a divorce fighting to find her place in the male-dominated culture of the summer of 1956. While Ellen and Penny develop a mother-daughter-like bond, friction over religion continues between Peters parents, and their lives and his are scarred by his mothers rigid adherence to Catholic teachings. As the teenagers wrestle with confusion over sex and religion, the veteran and the professor grapple with commitment born of love: he, ready to make it; and she, reluctant. They all reach a turning point, though, when Peter is viciously beaten by his high school nemesis after he comes to Pennys defense at the Beachs dance pavilion.

Reading Literature in Portuguese

Reading Literature in Portuguese PDF Author: Claudia Pazos Alonso
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351191934
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 275

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Book Description
"This collection brings together textual commentaries on thirty representative works of literature in Portuguese - either complete poems or extracts from longer works - ranging from the medieval lyric of the 13th century, through the poetry and drama of the Portuguese Renaissance, the great Realist novels of the nineteenth century, early twentieth century Modernism and post-1974 writings through to the present day, while also including examples of 19th- and 20th- century Brazilian literature. The authors chosen - poets, dramatists and novelists - are generally regarded as iconic writers, and the three most famous canonical Portuguese authors (Luis de Camoes, Fernando Pessoa, Jose Saramago) are featured, but the texts selected for commentary strike a balance between a focus on well-known and lesser-studied works. All the primary texts are reproduced in Portuguese, sometimes in original editions, with English translations added for the majority. The contributors variously explicate and contextualise the works they present, some focusing on hidden meaning, others on philological aspects of editing, others on their historical, intellectual and philosophical context, and others still on the process of translation itself. All, however, aim to develop the art of reading, for the benefit of scholars and students alike. Stephen Parkinson and Claudia Pazos Alonso are members of the Sub-Faculty of Portuguese at Oxford University, and editors of the Companion to Portuguese Literature (Tamesis, 2009)."

John and Mary

John and Mary PDF Author: Robert Fedorchek
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 1663239207
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 108

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Book Description
It’s a mother and a father who have lost their two sons. It’s a sister who has lost her two brothers. It’s loss and devastation. Acute pain—made more palpable on a day of worldwide, historical significance—brings to the fore the emotional wedge driven between a husband and a wife. And since the reason has them at loggerheads and creates such a strain in their marriage, they openly drift apart. John, the husband, at bottom a good man, finds release with another woman, a wholly unexpected encounter which he will rationalize to convince himself it is a chance occurrence; Mary, the wife, at bottom a good woman, turns to faith in the person of a Catholic priest, a priest who doubts his ability to guide her. He will, though, through prayer and steadfast support, get her to engage in search of self and see the futility of blame. Ultimately, a willingness to admit fault and to forgive will come into play. It must: a critical event will demand no less. But as they grapple with their needs as husband and wife, Doro, their thirteen-year-old daughter, finds herself left adrift ... until John, first, brings her into his embrace, and Mary, second, enfolds Doro in the love she had buried. John and Mary shows how the ache of loss can ebb and, with love in our hearts, transform into the good of life, allowing us to let go of the grief of death.